Torres recants his past criticism of Hochul

Rep. Ritchie Torres has not been kind to Gov. Kathy Hochul – but it seems it’s all water under the bridge now. 

The pair appeared together on Monday in Torres’ South Bronx district to denounce federal cuts to health care. Torres and Hochul haven’t appeared together to discuss a joint priority since at least November 2024. In fact, for most of this year, Torres was more likely to hold a press conference in order to attack the governor than to find some sort of common ground amid a Republican-controlled federal government.

Until last month, Torres had been exploring a primary challenge to Hochul, and he attacked her on everything from congestion pricing to masking to crime. He didn't hold back on his biting criticisms, which was unusual given that he hadn't decided whether to run before going after the leader of the state party. 

In November, Torres called Hochul “the new Joe Biden” (derogatory) who is “in denial about the depth of her vulnerabilities as a Democratic nominee.” A few days later, he said New York had “no greater hypocrite” in politics than Hochul, hitting her for her past “A” rating from the National Rifle Association and for flip-flopping on congestion pricing – she originally supported it and then abruptly paused it indefinitely last June, only to unpause it just after the November election. Torres told the New York Post that the governor was “fundamentally ineffective at governing” and Politico New York that her governance was “embarrassing.”

But in an abrupt about-face, Torres heaped praise on Hochul on Monday. “Thankfully, we have a governor who is willing and able and has the courage to hold Donald Trump accountable for his betrayal of working families," Torres said of Hochul. He added that Democrats should abandon infighting and “unite under the leadership of our governor.”

As recently as March, Torres was still publicly criticizing the governor. The prolific tweeter last mentioned the governor on March 23, when he called out her "disastrous restructuring” of the popular Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program. “At a time when Medicaid itself is existentially threatened by Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans, every Democrat should be defending, rather than destabilizing, home care for the most vulnerable New Yorkers,” Torres wrote at the time. 

Asked about that criticism on Monday, Torres drew a distinction between “containing the cost of a program and gutting it by a trillion dollars.” He said that “reasonable people of good will can disagree” on how best to restructure home care in the state, but that Democrats fundamentally want to protect health care while Republicans are cutting it. “We might have differences on the margins, but in the grand scheme of our health care system, it's hard to find a greater defender (than Hochul),” Torres said.

Other attacks from Torres went beyond simple “differences on the margins,” like his critiques of Hochul’s ability to even govern. But he said that he has had a change of heart since those statements months ago. “I'll be honest with you, there might have been moments when I've underestimated the governor,” Torres said, praising her effectiveness at standing up to Trump. “And my message to Donald Trump is, you underestimate Gov. Hochul at your own peril.”

Torres’ offensive against the governor had gone notably quiet in the weeks leading up to his official decision not to challenge her. But the new call for unity comes as Hochul instead faces a primary challenge from Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado. He is running as a staunch progressive, looking to woo the activist class and the kinds of voters who are backing Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York City. It’s exactly the wing of the Democratic Party that Torres has taken pains to distance himself from, despite his past left-wing positions. 

This isn’t the first time that a would-be challenger to Hochul has gone from aggressive attacks to playing nice in public. Rep. Tom Suozzi attempted to beat her in a Democratic primary in 2022 with a campaign that at times veered into the personal. But when Suozzi decided to run for Congress again in a bellwether special election two years later, he went to Hochul to make up. Today, one could almost forget the past animosity between the pair, with Suozzi even poking fun at his loss to Hochul when Delgado announced his own campaign. “Based upon my experience this may not be the most well-thought out idea!” Suozzi said on X at the time.